Mavericks finding form just in time

DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks are finally playing like the team they thought they built after Deron Williams spurned them in the offseason.

If they keep this up, it might not be too late to extend their playoff streak to 13 seasons.

The Mavericks have won a season-best four straight games since dropping 10 below .500 for the first time since their last nonplayoff year in 2000. Dirk Nowitzki shows a new sign of his old self nearly every game as he recovers from knee surgery that sidelined him the first two months.

And owner Mark Cuban has declared the “Bank of Cuban is open” a year and a half after he chose financial flexibility over bringing back key pieces of the franchise’s first championship team.

“We’re making baby steps each day and having little setbacks along the way, too,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. “We want to be healthy and have all our guys and see what we can do with this thing.”

Barely more than a week ago, the Mavericks were a mess. They had lost nine of 10 — another skid that hadn’t happened since 1999-2000 — and Nowitzki was days removed from saying a championship team couldn’t be built on hope.

The big German was referring to the Mavericks missing out on Williams in free agency — the former Dallas-area high school star stayed with the Nets for their Brooklyn debut — and to talk of them going after Chris Paul or Dwight Howard this summer.

Cuban maintained he had to let Tyson Chandler and other players go or else risk the ability to upgrade the roster later. The resulting collection of short-timers around Nowitzki and point guard Jason Kidd didn’t work last season, with the defending champs getting swept by Oklahoma City in the first round of the playoffs.

Cuban answered Nowitzki’s frustration by vowing not to trade his star, declaring he was prepared to upgrade through trades and warning that if anyone had given up on this season, “I will kick them to the curb faster than I can lift a boot.”

The Mavericks are 3-0 on the four-game homestand since the latest from their outspoken owner, and they’ve done it with better ball movement, some strong games from point guard Darren Collison and free agent O.J. Mayo, and defense. Two of the three opponents shot less than 40 percent, and several key defensive stops helped them hold off a Houston rally in Wednesday’s 105-100 win.

Carlisle warned that the winning streak might be “fool’s gold” since Dallas caught three straight teams on the second night of back-to-backs.

The best test of the emerging Mavericks will come Friday night, when the Thunder visit Dallas with a night of rest and a short trip after an easy win over Denver.